The present invention relates generally to the field of Internet of Things (IoT) and more particularly, to enabling consensus based peer-to-peer telemetry in a decentralized IoT environment.
An “Internet of Things” (IoT) can be a group of physically tangible electronic or computerized “things” that can be capable of network connectivity. Examples of IoT devices (e.g., “things”) can comprise environmental sensors, mobile devices, motion detectors, security cameras and “smart” appliances. Further, IoT devices can be equipped with a plurality of network interfaces, computer processors and local user interfaces.
IoT sensor devices can collect data through sensors, cameras or other monitoring techniques and can transmit data continuously, frequently or in response to, an occurrence of a triggering condition, to one or more remote IoT controllers through a network. IoT devices can perform functions such as, but not limited to, reporting a status of an appliance, an environmental controller or a motion sensor. IoT devices can also send instructions to a monitored device in response to monitored data or in response to instructions received from the IoT controller over a network.
IoT controllers are often centralized and perform functions such as, but not limited to, authentication and registration of IoT devices, messaging, file management, Quality of Service (QoS) coordination and life cycle management. Different IoT solution vendors can provide proprietary solutions that follow similar centralized architectures and centralized IoT controllers can be hosted on a cloud environment.
Some centralized IoT solutions can enable extension of some processing to the edge (i.e., edge computing) where edge computing can comprise applications, data and services received from centralized nodes to enable analytics and knowledge generation at the source of the data, but where those resources may not be continuously connected to a network. These described IoT edge services often function as spokes of a cloud controller that perform aggregation and regional tasks to have data further aggregated and controlled at the central controller. While central control can be efficient for high-value IoT applications, a centralized model can become expensive to support for a large number (e.g., billions) of low value IoT devices over a long lifecycle (e.g., years). Additionally, IoT devices on the edge can have increased capability and sophistication when IoT devices comprise significant computing and memory capability. Sophisticated IoT devices can be leveraged to complement centralized solutions and enhance system security by reducing single points of failure inherent with centralized systems. Further, the cost of a centralized infrastructure can become expensive with a large population of low-value IoT devices (e.g., approaching millions and billions of devices). Centralized systems can become single points of failure and a long lifespan of connected devices can contribute to long-term data maintenance challenges.